Containing papers carefully compiled for both their historical importance and contemporary relevance, Family Medicine: The Classic Papers brings together a team of experts, led by global family medicine leaders Michael Kidd, Iona Heath and Amanda Howe, who explain the importance of each selected paper and how it contributes to international health care, current practice and research. The papers demonstrate the broad scope of primary health care delivered by family doctors around the world, showcasing some of the most important research ever carried out in family medicine and primary care. This unique volume will serve as an inspiration to current family doctors and family medicine researchers and educators, as well as to doctors in training, medical students and emerging researchers in family medicine.

The phrase 'medical humanities' has a currency that is wider than any agreement as to what it means, though those engaged in the field usually know what they are attempting. This volume examines the idea of 'symptom' as a route to understanding the structure of clinical practice. Actual symptoms are always experienced by real, actual individuals - however much those experiences are mediated by language, culture, expectation and the conventions of the clinical consultation. And this in turn is important because it reminds us that health, illness, well-being, suffering are first and foremost aspects of experience. This book asks questions - and offers answers - about the meaning of actual symptoms and of the concept of 'symptom' as a prelude to a cumulative interdisciplinary understanding of illness as a source of human need, and clinical medicine as a human response to it.

This book collects in one place the classic papers from family medicine from around the world. It serves as a showcase of some of the most important ideas and research carried out in family medicine and as an inspiration to family doctors as well as to doctors in training and medical students.

In this extraordinary book, Iona Heath draws on her experience as a general practitioner to select and comment on a collection of passages concerning death and dying, and to consider the essential nature of general practice. In Ways of Dying Heath illuminates the process for professionals and lay readers, and stimulates consideration of approaches to improved care at end of life. Her renowned work The Mystery of General Practice (which has been unavailable for some time), considers the complex character of this field, its core values and changing roles. The two extended essays cover important issues on the role of the healthcare professional in the care of the dying, the idea of life and death, and the essential nature of general practice. Matters of Life and Death offers inspiration for all doctors, especially those with an interest in medical humanities. It will also be of great interest to general readers interested in end of life matters, and the nature and art of medicine.

Violence within the family, whether directed against children, partners or elders, profoundly disturbs our notions of what the relationship between the family and the discipline of general practice should be. GPs are doctors to whole families and yet their relationships with patients are individual ones, drawing their strength from the principles of confidentiality, mutual trust and positive regard. Violence and abuse within families necessarily challenges all of these, creating a profusion of ethical, interpersonal and practical difficulties and dilemmas. At the same time the nature of general practice confers unique opportunities to deal effectively with family violence.

GPs and GP registrars will find this book an invaluable and empowering resource. It brings together a broad range of expertise and opinion from relevant specialities and disciplines and sets family violence in its historical, epidemiological and societal context. It describes in separate sections, child abuse, domestic violence and elder abuse, its presentations, diagnosis and treatment; and suggests ways forward for its prevention and early detection. It draws throughout on the experience of GPs, health visitors and social workers, providing practical safe and workable guidelines.

Family violence can present to any member of the primary care team and there is much here that will be of relevance and interest to them all.

This third volume in the Companion to Medical Humanities series considers the concept of treatment as an active process which produces an outcome, be it effective, inappropriate or inadequate. It invites the reader to examine the relevance of the patients' belief in any given treatment and their confidence in the practitioner. Against a person-centred backdrop, it investigates boundaries, and reflects on the practical demands on a health care system limited in its resources, where the price of choice for one may be the restriction of service for the other. It also questions the supposed contrasts between treatment and cure, redefining the meaning of care in daily practice. It offers inspirational reading for all academics and professionals with an interest in the medical humanities, as well as researchers in philosophy of medicine and medical ethics. CPD with Radcliffe. This book can be used to achieve CPD (Continuing Professional Development) points through directed reading. We provide a free online form, and downloadable certificate for your appraisal portfolio. For more information and to claim CPD points on this book, visit www.radcliffehealth.com/cpd

I would like to tell you a bit about the sort of bookshop we are. We are fiercely independent and will never be part of any large organization. Our stock is quite small and very carefully chosen. Some might say we are idiosyncratic and even eccentric. To those people I would say: who cares? If you want run of the mill textbooks, carelessly written best sellers and formulaic genre books there are plenty of places to get them. There is only one Green Bookshop. John Salinsky Superbly written, The Green Bookshop is a witty and unconventional collection which includes: The best novels by living writers Books which have something new to say about primary care Books which might help us doctors look after our patients better Almost anything that is really well written Classics, which come up fresh however often you read them Some history, some biography, and some books by Deep Thinkers' Books featuring feisty women. And books about love.

Hypothyroidism is a chronic illness caused by the underproduction of the hormone that controls the body's metabolism. This book gives an unusual insight into the many facets of hypothyroidism. Lohre, who is both a teacher and psychologist, has written a personal and colorful narrative that describes the progress of the illness, its symptoms and treatment. Some of the symptoms can call to mind functional difficulties associated with head injuries or ADD (Attention Deficiency Disorder). This applies especially to the problems with concentration and memory, as well as to the rigidity and susceptibility to emotional ups and downs. The hypersensitivity to sound and light has a certain similarity to autistic patterns of reaction. The book also recounts conditions that are basic in all chronic illness: anger about being ill, discouragement, grief and, lastly, reorientation and adaptation. In addition, questions about the period of restitution, degree of recovery and possible complications are discussed. Both professionals and those affected by hypothyroidism, directly or indirectly, will find this book useful. For professionals and students, it is a valuable supplement to already existing literature. The author's close-up of her experience with hypothyroidism should inspire more research in this field.

David Widgery was a socialist GP who worked in the East End of London. For him medicine was as much about the social causes of illness as it was biological. He believed that if wealth were more evenly distributed, society and its members would be healthier. Working in and fighting for the NHS symbolised his wider view of the world. This book tackles the difficult issues surrounding doctors' roles, including whether they should ignore or embrace the social causes of illness. It looks at the unique perspective of David Widgery's life in exploring these issues, and also considers why medicine at times is disheartening. General practitioners, other doctors, and those who shape and make health policy will all find this book stimulating and enlightening reading.

This is a practical and trans-disciplinary guide for professionals working with vulnerable adults, who include the frail elderly, those with mental-health problems or physical disabilities, learning disabilites or serious physical illness.;The contributors address key problems and dilemmas in working to protect these groups from abuse, and to support those who have already experienced abuse or neglect. They consider the procedural implications of the latest Department of Health guidance on working with vulnerable adults, and make practical suggestions for working with both victims and abusers.;Highlighting the importance of inter-agency working, the contributors show how the related fields of child abuse, domestic violence and adult abuse can come together to promote increased understanding and good practice. With its emphasis on effective practice and contributions from social work, general-medical practice, criminal justice and adult protection, this collection should provide a useful resource for students, practitioners, service managers and policy makers in all sectors.